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At least 389 potential renters lost a total of at least $2.4 million between July 2023 and January 2024 after they were pressured by fake property agents into making payments to secure the viewing or rental of properties.
The victims typically responded to property rental listings online, mostly on Facebook but also on Carousell and rental advertisement sites.
They would generally interact with the scammers through WhatsApp using the contact numbers published in the property rental listing.
During their exchange, the scammers would impersonate a legitimate property agent and convince the victims of their credentials by sending pictures of property agent passes, business cards, pictures and videos or virtual tours of the rental property.
However, the contact numbers provided would differ from the actual contact numbers of the legitimate property agent registered with the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA).
When the victims asked if they could view the property, the scammers would claim that there was high demand for the property and pressure them into making deposits to secure the property.
The victims would discover that they had been scammed when the fake agents ceased contact with them or when they reached out to the legit agents who were impersonated by the scammers.
In some cases, the victims were asked to meet up with the “personal assistants” of the fake property agents who would help facilitate their viewing of the property.
After the viewing, the victims would be told to provide their personal particulars for the tenancy agreement and to make payments for the rentals through bank transfers or PayNow.
But the scammer or “personal assistants” would cease contact with the victims after receiving payments. At least 144 people lost $917,000 to this method of scamming between July 2023 and January 2024.
The police advise verifying the legitimacy of a property listing by the following means: